Hello and welcome to my little corner of cyberspace. Here you can find a foodie fantasy filled side-car to my YouTube channel which is filled with scrumptious vegan recipes that are straightforward and common-sense-ful to make, as well as incredibly scrumptious to eat. Read more.

Nachos fall into the same bucket as waffles for me. An American/Mexican-ish food that we don't really have on the reg' in Australia. For me, Nachos bring up memories of play-dates with my then best-bud in junior school. We had Nachos often, as well as noodles, jaffles, pizza's and iced chocolates - ahh good times. Care free food lovin' - yet unfortunately not vegan. Anyhoos, you're in for a treat today as I spent a bit of my day experimenting in the kitchen and came up with these delectable munchkins that are insanely good. Read: insanely GOOD!! Brown rice replaces the meat and a squirty cheese sauce replaces the unhealthy stringy stuff. While I used regular corn chips this time around, you most certainly could make your own oil-free version through crisping up some flour or corn tortilla triangles in the oven. Just adjust cooking times so they don't start smoking hehe. Enjoy pals!!

Serves: 4

Ingredients

1 bag of corn chips (or oil free version, read intro)

1 cup brown rice

1 carrot

1/2 head broccoli

1 tin black beans, drained of half the liquid

1 packet vegan taco seasoning

1/2 cup soaked cashews

1/2 cup leftover veg soup (or 1/2 boiled potato & 1/2 boiled carrot)

2 tbsp nutritional yeast

1 heaped tsp dijon

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

salt and pepper

1 tsp minced garlic

sprinkle each of mixed herbs, paprika, onion powder

1 avocado, cubed

3 tomatoes, diced

1/2 red onion, finely diced

lime juice

spring onion slices/chopped coriander to serve

Method

Pre-heat your oven to 200C on a grill/bake setting (if it has it).

Get your brown rice on to cook. Boil until tender, or according to packet instructions. In a blender, whiz the carrot and broccoli until small. Water saute this in a fry-pan with 3/4 of the taco seasoning packet, until tender. Turn off the heat when done.

Make your salsa, by combining the avocado, tomato, onion and lime juice in a medium bowl. Season and set aside until needed.

Clean out the blender and puree the beans with the remaining taco seasoning until smooth. Scrape out and set aside until needed.

Make the cheese sauce, by combining (in the clean blender) the cashews, leftover soup, yeast, mustard, vinegar, garlic, spices and a generous seasoning of salt and pepper. Once smooth and creamy, set aside in the blender until needed.

Once the rice is cooked, drain and add to the broccoli and carrot mix. Place on a medium/high heat and stir-fry a little for 5-10 minutes until a little crispy and any excess water has evaporated.

Assemble your nachos by grabbing a tray and spreading out your corn chips on it. Sprinkle over the rice filling, then add dollops of the bean mixture, then drizzles of the cheese sauce. Crispy up in the oven for 10-15 minutes. Add the salsa and then sprinkle with spring onion and coriander if ya' fancy! Devour immediately :)